04 March 2011

my guest, grae...

so grae writes a little essay every week, and they're usually pretty wonderful.

both she and lill have been listening when i tell them not to write with their thesaurus, but with their hearts. their teachers may not agree, but i feel like semi-colons and past participles are organic. they'll come when they come.

in my little opinion, learning to write exactly what you mean to communicate is king. and if you think you shouldn't say it, that usually means you should. this is a difficult concept for a fifth grader, but grae's killing these essays in terms of content.

anyway. grae's topic this week was to write about the most beautiful thing she's ever seen. here it is...

There is a grand mirror standing right smack in the middle of my room, exposing my bed, closet, desk and my dog’s crate. I love my mirror. If you know me, you know that I am very much full of myself, and that I definitely overuse my wonderful mirror. Every day, I sit in front of that mirror and stare at my surroundings behind me: my clock, my favorite stuffed animals, and Lillie‘s bed. It‘s always unmade, which isn't a surprise if you know Lillie. Of course, I stare at myself the most, but there is always something pretty beautiful in my room: my little sister, Esmé.

Esmé imitates my every move, and she loves most everything I do. She will do anything to please me, and even calls herself my twin. From the minute I met that kid, we have shared a really special relationship. When she was brand new, my mom begged me to work my magic and put her to sleep. All I had to do was hold her.

Sometimes, though, she can be bit of a handful. Like when she tells a complete stranger a family secret or a secret about THEM that she has heard from me or my other sister, Lillie. That is never a good happening. When she gets embarrassed in public, she occasionally kicks and bites the closest person to her, which is usually me. I‘ve learned to run when I see her start to feel uncomfortable.

But when she looks into my eyes and earnestly whispers, “I’m really sorry,” it’s just too hard to be mad at her. The only thing I can do is accept her apology and we just go on being twins.

Just yesterday, Esmé asked for someone to get her some tuna. She meant me. Well, Lillie made her some tuna instead because she was holding the can opener. Lillie loves the can opener, and I'm okay with that because I can't really see a way for her to cut herself open. I still don't let her near the mandolin, though.

Esmé simply made a disgusted face and said, “Lullie! Ewww! I don’t want Lullie’s stinky hands making dis!” So I lovingly prepared her tuna, and set it in front of her.

“Who made dis?” she questioned rudely.

“I did.” I replied nicely.

There was silence, then she mumbled just a simple, “Oh, ok.”

Lillie, as you can imagine, was offended for a second, then she went back to her careless self. This is what happens every day.

As you can already tell, Esmé favors me and I can get her to do absolutely anything. Esmé is very funny and she is like me in most every way, except for the fact that I sadly can’t cut my own hair like she does. Don’t tell her, but I am actually glad that I won’t try to cut my own hair! I’ve seen how bad it can turn out. After the last scissor incident, my mom had to take Esmé to the salon and basically get her a boy’s short haircut. We all told her she looked like Tinkerbell, but I think we all meant Peter Pan.

Esmé is seriously the most beautiful and most interesting person I have ever met or seen. The next time I look in my mirror, I will not just stare at silly objects in my room, but I will focus on my awesomely amazing sister, Esmé, more than I normally would. She will only be five once, right?

this took her about fifteen minutes to write. amazing. also, she makes lillie sound more hapless than she usually is, which makes the writer in me giggle more than the mom in me.

before grae printed this, she asked me to "fatten it up with some metaphors and similes and stuff." i said no. it was perfect, as is. i don't know. i probably shouldn't have posted this without grae-girl's permission, but i just wanted to save it. and you know i'm a crap scrapbooker.

I'm smushed between my girls as they nap and have giant droplet tears rolling down my cheeks. She has such a gift with words. Be sure to tell her she made one mommy so happy to have two little girls...she's even got me thinking I should have a 3rd!

What a talented writer! Her unapologetically frank honesty is so refreshing! She makes me feel like I was gypped for not having a sister. It seems you've done a fantastic job of nurturing your girlies' creative savvies.

you have angels for daughters. and the really best part is that they're yours to keep. i'm so glad you shared this essay -- i love peeking into their word. it's just as wonderful and magic as i imagined it would be.

The Mackin's really have a knack for making words sound magical. My goodness does your Grae take after you- in the best, best way! To have that talent at her age is a sign that that girl is going to be somebody pretty special. But of course you already knew that. You knew that about all three of your girls.

What a little writer with that same magic you have. Sisters. Is there anything better? Still trying to figure out how to get my Elle as sister without having another baby- ha! You have such lovely lovely girls!xoxo

Ohmygoodness that made me feel a million emotions at once, but mostly that I miss my little sisters.

Thanks for sharing this, and thank Grae for writing this. It reminded me that I need and want to write more, and then I went and wrote something. So thank you for inspiring me.

Also. I'm almost finished with college now and writing from the heart is NOT something they teach you in class. And it's the hardest thing to learn. Grae - may you always write about what you love. And may you always have something in your life you love enough to write about.

tears. squirting big, happy, admiring tears down my face. what a SUPER-STAR!?!? i'm sending this out to all my non-blogger friends, because it is TOO, TOO, TOO good not to share.like that amazing dessert that everyone needs a bite of. grae is the gorgeous, sweet berry cobbler too delicious not to know.bravo!!!

I just came over from Alexis' blog - your daughter's essay is absolutely precious. What a gift she has in expressing herself! Little Esme (at least through her eyes) reminds me so much of my youngest daughter when she was five. Her older sister (by 6 years) felt the same way about her sis. This makes my day! I'm so glad I had time to 'blog hop' this morning. ;)

This is so wonderful. It's about a million times better than the things I read from college students in my job as a writing tutor. Metaphors? Similes? Use them if she needs them to make an A, sure, but this writing is natural and beautiful and she has a lovely, clear, distinct voice. You can't teach that. I'm impressed (and slightly embarrassed, knowing the things I wrote at that age were entirely inferior).

Hello. I stumbled upon your blog through DesignMom, and let me tell you I can't stop reading. There's just something about your writing that touches my soul. Thank you for that. This essay by your daughter is easily the most beautiful thing I read today. It makes me happy in so many ways. What a beautiful family you myst have. Looking forward to many future posts.

Hey- just found your blog today. I'm 25 and have three sisters (I'm the third down), and we moved around a lot growing up. I have always ALWAYS thought that the best thing my parents gave me was my sisters. It's an interesting thing, being part of a tiny group of girls who all share a life together, and it's...such a blessing. Your girls make me hope that if I have daughters, they turn out just like that- full of joy and life and individuality. I'm so happy for you, and I don't even know you. But you should take a second and revel in it- because they'll have those sisters forever, and you're the one who gave them that.